Do you know what information you can get about a product based only on its packaging? Even if everything is written on it with the help of hieroglyphs. It’s okay if you don’t know the meaning of any of them. All the same, you will understand the pictograms. They are there for that purpose and are drawn so that information can be read and understood in all corners of the globe.
So, if you see a glass on the box, it means that there is a fragile product inside, and if the flame is raging on the icon, the contents of the box are flammable.
What do these signs mean?
This pictogram shows the famous Mobius strip or loop. It represents a certain mathematical paradox, since it is a one-sided surface. Yes, yes - she has only one side. You can see for yourself if you take it in your hands. The Mobius loop will be simple - take a strip of paper about 30 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
Rotate one end of it 180 degrees and glue to the other. To make sure that it really has one side, place a pencil exactly in the middle of the tape and draw a line without tearing it away from the paper. After a while, you will hit the beginning of your own line. You didn’t turn the paper over, you didn’t tear the pencil from it, and the line connected, therefore, the Moebius loop really has only one side, and your eyes are simply deceiving you. In general, exploring it is very interesting. Try to cut it in a pencil line - you get connected rings.
But this excursion into the jungle of mathematical paradoxes does not at all explain what the Mobius loop does on the package. This sign means that the packaging itself is made of material that can be recycled. If there are numbers from 1 to 7 inside the pictogram, then they mean the name of the material from which the package is made. In order of increasing numbers, they mean: polyethylene terephthalate, high density polyethylene, PVC, polypropylene, polystyrene or other plastic. Sometimes, instead of letters, capital
Latin letters can be used
, which mean the same thing.
It may also happen that instead of letters or just numbers from 1 to 7 inside the loop, or some percentage value will be indicated under it. In this case, the Moebius loop tells how much recycled material is already in this package. Why is this figure selected? This is easily explained. Arrows indicate that the production and processing cycle goes into itself, that is, it is closed.
In fact, the installation of this sign is not regulated by any legislative requirements and is placed solely at the request of the manufacturer. But in light of the fact that they are now fighting for ecology at an accelerated pace, almost all packaging materials used in industry are recycled. So do not be surprised if you encounter a Moebius loop on a Tetra-Pak packaging or on a plastic bottle. They really have already learned to recycle, despite the fact that before they were considered unsuitable for recycling.